Three women, now middle-aged, sat around a table last Friday in the 286-year-old farm homestead in Mount Laurel, recalling their earliest memories of Paws Farm from decades ago.
Shiny with fresh paint inside, the house was silent, the grounds deserted. Calls from the dozens of farm and wild animals that once lived on the grounds are gone. Laughter and screaming of delighted children who had visited the Township-owned landmark since its 1979 opening now are absent.
The three women, who live in Moorestown, essentially grew up at the old Darnell Homestead Farm. They now are the next generation: Adults who serve on the board of directors for the volunteers organization, carrying on the vision of PAWS founders Dr. Charles and Kate Tweedy.
"To me, it's a slice of heaven here," said Julia Graham Slater, whose father, the late Dr. Robert Graham of the Cinnaminson Animal Hospital, joined the Tweedys in creating PAWS and served as veterinarian when needed.
"It was just a part of my life," she told 70and73.com.
On June 25 and 26, the public can return to Paws to visit temporary animal visitors, participate in activities and tour the refurbished attraction. The volunteers call it a Peek at Paws Farm to share their progress at the 1105 Hainesport-Mt. Laurel Road property. Donations are $10 for visitors 13 and older, $7 for children 2 through 12 years old and free for those under 2. The hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and visitors sign up for a time slot.
» MORE INFORMATION on the Paws Farm fundraiser on June 25-26.
Paws — once the acronym for the Preservation and Wildlife Society — abruptly closed in February 2020 and the animals were sent to new homes when then-operator Garden State Discovery Museum of Cherry Hill informed the Township that it no longer could run the site.Â
In response, just as they did in the late 1970s, the Tweedys — joined by a new generation of volunteers — stepped up and have led an effort to restore Paws. Their nonprofit, Volunteers for PAWS Farm, Inc., holds a Township lease on the 17-acre property that extends to December 31, 2023.
Volunteers spent months removing trash (13 large dumpsters were filled), painting, building and generally restoring new life to the site.
Both the volunteers and the Township are now searching for a third-party partner to manage and operate Paws, hire a small staff and open it to the public again. Meanwhile, the volunteers organization is seeking a caretaker to live in part of the Darnell house and watch over the site.
Board member Jennifer Brennan Baxter remembers as a sixth-grader helping to paint the inside of the farmhouse in 1979 as the Tweedy's legion of volunteers got the farm ready for opening. Brennan Baxter, who is 55 and now on the volunteer board, also recalls a fascination with the Darnell Family graveyard, which had its first burial in 1759.
Brennan Baxter, whose father, the late Joseph Brennan, served on the Paws board of trustees, heard from the Tweedys when the couple was recruiting volunteers after Paws closed two years ago.
"Everybody's got a passion for it," she said of Paws.
"The Township has been wonderful," Brennan Baxter said. "We're grateful for their involvement."
Dr. Robyn Steiner, a veterinarian who now is chief of staff at Cinnaminson Animal Hospital, took a different route to involvement.
Before she attended the University of Pennsylvania's veterinary school, Steiner, 57, worked with Dr. Graham to learn about veterinary medicine and care for animals. Her studies at Penn did not include wildlife and her continued involvement with Dr. Graham and Paws Farm helped to build that knowledge.
"This is a very special place," she said.
Steiner said her most vivid memory also was her most fearful one: She needed to anesthetize a fawn, a process that involves estimating the animal's weight to administer the proper dose. She dreaded the thought of harming the fawn. In fact, she never lost an animal at Paws.
She will continue her medical volunteering when Paws again gets an animal population, she said.Â
When the volunteers showed up at the shut-down Paws, the examining tables in the veterinarian's room were missing.
Graham-Slater's brother, lawyer W. Robb Graham of Moorestown and a talented woodworker, built a new examination table for the refurbished farm.
She recalled as a young girl in the late 1970s walking with her parents up the dirt path to the Darnell House for the first time and seeing a dilapidated hulk. She remembers wondering how it could ever be restored.
About 40 years after that memory, she found the buildings and property were once more in desperate need of restoration.
"It was run into the ground," Graham-Slater, 54, recalled of Paws in 2020. "Then, to see the Tweedys come back and resurrect it again."
READ MORE ABOUT PAWS FROM 70and73.com
- Volunteers toil to give now-closed Paws Farm in Mount Laurel a new, sustainable life.
- Paws Farm volunteers call for Mount Laurel to set reopening date. Town says it can't fund employees.
- PAWS PROGRESS: Mount Laurel Council renews efforts to reopen Paws; plans to hire caretaker.
- Throng of fans shows up at Paws Discovery Farm in Mount Laurel to say goodbye.
» MYSTERY MUNCHER: Japanese ramen delight in private at Kyuramen on Route 70 in Cherry Hill. | Out to Eat | 70and73.com
